Bengals first-round pick John Ross played six snaps on Sunday against Tennessee. That runs his total for the season up to 17.

One of those plays stuck in the mind of Marvin Lewis when he was asked about Ross’ progress during Wednesday’s press conference. He didn’t hold back in calling the 21-year-old out.

“John had a play last week we weren’t very thrilled with,” Lewis began.

The play in question came on third-and-5 early in the second quarter. Ross ended up one-on-one running deep down the sideline and slowed down running when he thought Dalton wasn’t going to throw him the ball. Dalton did and it fell incomplete.

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Lewis embraced the role of Grinch in the presser as he went deeper into Ross’ progress and the rookie not running the full play on Sunday because he didn’t think the ball would come to him in that coverage.

“The thing I told him and it was great because Andy was with him in the hall on Tuesday,” Lewis said. “For Andy, against that coverage to throw him that football, he should understand how the quarterback feels about him. That he expects him to be where he needs to be. He let his teammates down. He let me down. He let Andy down."

Lewis has scoffed at the constant progress questions thrown his way over the course of the last month as Ross returned to practice for the first time consistently since being drafted.

This served as an example of the growing pains associated with a player without many professional snaps. Still, Lewis doesn’t typically air qualms with players in the media, but this was clear as that pass was an incompletion.

“Maybe that ball is not supposed to go there in that coverage, but if you do it right and run like you can run that ball can go there and it can be a big play for us,” Lewis said of his conversation with Ross. “The receiver can’t dictate where the ball goes. The quarterback has to make the read and do what he does and throw the ball based on the coverage and his progression. In that case, he chose John. Made a nice throw and put the ball where it needed to be and it ended up from you to me away. Had he been running, likely he catches it.”

In a game where the Bengals punted on that drive and lost the game in the final seconds, a Ross catch there might have been the big play the Bengals needed.

“I would hope it would be a touchdown, but that’s the margin of error we are right now,” Lewis said. “We are a little thin on that.”

Veteran receiver Brandon LaFell sees the same potential the Bengals did in Ross but recognizes it's unfair to expect him to immediately play perfect football. It comes with time – time he said he would like to see Ross receive.

"We are working him back into the offense, getting his feet wet, getting him more game reps," LaFell said. "You can do a lot in practice but you need those game reps so we need to put him out there more than those four or five plays in games so we can really get him acclimated to this league."

Consider Lewis' response and the return to health of Tyler Boyd, have to wonder if Ross will even be active on Sunday much less receiving more than the six snaps he did in Tennessee.